Chrysiptera caesifrons: A new reef damselfish

Chrysiptera caesifrons is the newest Pomacentrid species. What's most remarkable about the damselfish isn't its appearance or behavior but rather how wide its natural range is and that it has only now been described.

Chrysiptera caesifrons from Solomon Islands. Photo by G.R. Allen.

Just how wide is its distribution?

The new species is primarily restricted to the southwestern Pacific Ocean (Fig. 3) with confirmed records from Halmahera and West Papua, Indonesia, northeastern Papua New Guinea (including New Britain, Admiralty Islands, and Milne Bay Province), Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Australia. Australian localities include the entire extent of the Great Barrier Reef. The habitat consists of rocky substrates, frequently close to shore, often in gullies just below the surge zone at depths of about 1–6 m. It generally occurs solitarily or in small, loose groups.

Don't ask us how a tropical reef fish that occurs in shallow waters over such an expansive range was not described until 2015.

Chrysiptera caesifrons is described in the latest publication of The Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation (by the usual suspects, Gerald R. Allen, Mark V. Erdmann, and Eka M. Kurniasih). C.caesiforns is most closely related to Chrysiptera rex, which live in more western Indo-Pacific waters with some cross-over territory around Raja Ampat (Indonesia).